


By the River

by Ghost97296



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blood and Gore, Enemies work together, Good leader Jean, Hange is a good friend, Hurt/Comfort, Magath cares, Marley and Eldia hatred, Mikasa is a good cousin, Multi, Protective Mikasa, Recovery, Smart Armin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:01:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28528902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost97296/pseuds/Ghost97296
Summary: Hange never found Levi and instead formed the alliance without him. As the team is altogether, they try to find Levi, but he is a little worse than they expected.As they try to figure out a plan to stop Eren, they fight over their differences and struggle to leave the past behind. New friendships are made and alliances are born.
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart, Levi & Hange Zoë, Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi, Pieck Finger/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	1. Hange

**Author's Note:**

> Here is a thought I had about what would have happened if the whole Alliance found Levi by the river, instead of just Hange. This began as a Hange and Levi fic, but I've found it interesting to explore the thoughts and feelings of some of the other characters as well. Enjoy!

The rain poured down. They stood by the wreckage of an exploded wagon. Two horses lay dead beside it, pierced with wooden shrapnel.

“This is Levi’s wagon.” Hange said, her voice breathless and shaking.

“My god, what could have happened here?” Margath said, gazing at the rubble.

“It looks like a thunder spear explosion.” Hange said numbly. “Look, there’s metal shrapnel along with the wooden fragments. Only they are powerful enough to do this.”

“So who set it off?” Jean asked. “Zeke or Levi?”

“I can only assume this is how Zeke escaped.” Said Hange.

“If that’s true, then where’s Levi?” Said Mikasa.

“Um… Hange!” Connie called. He stood a few paces away pointing down at something in the grass.

The others ran up to him. Their breath caught. It was the handle of a sword, the blade a shattered stump.

“Is it…?” Mikasa breathed.

“That’s Levi’s sword.” Hange said, trying not to think of the deadly truth.

“How can you be sure?” Connie asked.

“Look…” She pointed to where two fingers were clutching around the handle, bloody and broken.

Connie swallowed. “Oh…”

“Hey over here!” Reiner’s voice yelled from the river. “I think we’ve found him!”

Hange gasped and sprinted over desperately, the others following. Reiner and Annie were dragging a limp body out of the river. They transferred him over to Hange who clutched him in her arms. She turned him over to face her and couldn’t breathe when she saw his face.

“Levi?” She wiped his hair from his face. “Oh god! Say you’re alive!”

The river had left him clean but more blood started to spill from the huge gashes across his face. He had a long, gruesome cut running from his forehead, across his eye and over his mouth to his chin. He had another cut along his right cheek to his jaw. The left side of his face was embedded with the shattered shards of his sword. He was incredibly pale, more so than usual, and cold, very cold.

Hange placed her hand over his mouth, then laid her head on his chest, listening.

“He’s not breathing! His heart’s not beating!” He gasped.

She hurriedly laid him flat on the ground, pressing against his chest, trying to start his heart.

“Hange,” Reiner said as gently as he could. “He was fully submerged in the water. If he didn’t die from blood loss, he would have drowned.”

“Your wrong.” Mikasa snapped with unusual venom. “Levi’s strong. He can’t die that easily.”

“I know he’s an Akerman, but even the most powerful person can be killed.”

“Not him!” Mikasa knelt beside Hange.

Hange ignored them as she desperately tried to restart his heart. She placed her head on his chest again, and almost cried as she still could not hear his heart.

“Come on!” She screamed as she began pressing on his chest again. “You selfish little bastard! Wake up!”

She started banging on his chest more violently. “Wake up! You can’t go, not now! You promised me!”

“Hange…” Annie tried. “He’s gone.”

“No! No, you promised! You can’t leave me here alone!” Hange punched his chest. Annie tried to hold back her arms as she realised she was doing more damage than good.

“Stop! Stop it.” She said, more sternly. “There’s nothing you can do. He’s dead”

The word hung in the air like poison. Hange’s anger dissipated, submerging her in an ocean of grief. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she lifted Levi’s body, cradling him in her arms.

“Don’t leave me…” She cried into his shoulder. “Levi… please…”

Mikasa’s face paled. She could no longer breathe, it felt so serial. It didn’t seem natural for the strong, stoic captain to be rendered to a bloodied and limp corpse. He didn’t deserve to have died alone and in pain, but the world was cruel.

Reiner looked down at the helpless body of the captain. He remembered him. All that time he had admired and respected him. Even when he had almost killed him. He was invaluable to their cause. But there was a part of him that was relieved. A deep and venomous part of him that was glad he would never have to face that monster again.

Suddenly, Levi’s body shook. It convulsed like he was hit with an electrical charge. A terrible coughing sound emitted from his throat. Hange pulled away from him, stunned and shocked, holding his head upright. As he coughed, water spilled from his mouth, freeing his lungs for air. Mikasa came out of her shock just enough to help Hange keep in as upright as possible, helping the flow of air return to his lungs. All at once, his eyes shot open and he gasped.

“Levi!" Hange cried, breathless. “Oh my god!”

Annie, backed away, stunned. She glanced at Reiner nervously. _He was dead, wasn’t he? How could he have survived?_

Hange laid him back down, her hand cupping his head, allowing him to rest. His chest raised up and down, as he took in shallow wheezing breaths. Slowly, his eyes started to focus, the initial shock of almost dying wearing off. His gaze drifted over to Hange and a look of relief overcame his face.

“Hange…” He whispered in a croaky voice.

Hange laughed through tears. “Levi!” He brushed some wet hair off of his face. “You scared me, asshole!”

He coughed. “Never knew you cared, shitty-glasses…”

Hange gasped back a laugh. _He’s insulting me! Even now!_ He was sounding much more like his old self.

“We need to bring him somewhere dry.” Mikasa said.

Mikasa, Annie and Reiner helped Hange drag him up to the dry-ish grass.

“Ghah!” Levi gasped in pain.

They dragged him a little further and he let out a scream.

“Stop!” He cried suddenly. “S-Stop, Hange!”

“We can’t stop, we need to get you away from the river?” Hange said.

“I can’t…” Levi said through ragged breaths. “I can’t move.”

“What?” She said panicked.

“My back… I can’t…” Levi’s eyes rolled back. Hange to tell he was loosing consciousness.

_His back. Is he paralysed?_

“Check his back!” She said to Mikasa. She lifted him slightly, trying to get at his back. He let out a weak scream of pain. He coughed up blood.

 _Damn it!_ Something was very wrong.

“We can’t move him like this.” Mikasa said.

Hange looked around them desperate. “We’ll do what we can here.”

Then she noticed his leg. A large piece of wood was stabbed into the back of his calf. It had caught on a clump of grass and was pulling at the muscle of his leg. He was loosing a lot of blood.

At Hange’s indication Mikasa ran down to his leg and took hold of the blood soaked wood. Levi’s eyes widened as the realisation of the pain he was about to be in over took him. Hange clutched his hand as he took few shallow breaths. Hange nodded at Mikasa. She clenched her jaw as she pulled. Levi let out a stifled scream as Mikasa tugged at the jagged piece of wood. It was lodged in deep and it took a lot of manoeuvring to get it out. She winced as she felt muscle fibres tear, Levi let out a scream that was cut off, shock was taking over. It was taking too long, so Mikasa pulled harder. The wood was pulled out, a flood of blood poured out after it.

“Wrap it up!” Hange said quickly. She tore of a section of her cloak and handed it to Mikasa who hurriedly tight it tightly round Levi’s leg.

“He’s still bleeding.” Pieck said, kneeling beside her. “Let me help.”

She lifted his torn and bloodied cloak and found another horrible wound in his stomach. He was impaled by a shard of metal. Probably shrapnel from the thunder spear. She began pulling it out. Levi remained conscious, but in shock. His eyes were unfocused and distant again. As Mikasa and Pieck worked to remove shrapnel and stop the bleeding, Hange removed her cloak to wrap around Levi’s face. The cut over his eye and mouth was the worst. Hange bit her lip as she thought about whether his eye was still intact. Eventually the bleeding had mostly stopped. Levi had torturously remained conscious for all of it. Now his breathing was ragged and uneven, his eyes trembling and unfocused.

“Is he still alive?” Pieck said, when she felt his body go limp.

Hange checked his pulse. “Yes.” She breathed, relieved. “But it’s faint. We can’t move him tonight.”

“We should camp here then.” Jean said. “Light a fire or something near the trees. We can move him that far, right?”

Hange nodded and the others began to move up.

“Hold on just a second.” Margath held up his hand and stood in front of them. “We’re too out in the open, even by the trees. The enemy have been here which means that they could come back, especially when they find out this is where Zeke left Akerman. They could want to come back and make sure he’s dead.”

“What are you saying?” Mikasa stood up to him, a dangerous glare in her eyes.

“I’m saying we can’t stay here. We need to move.” He said.

“No we can’t.” Jean said. “You can see him, right? There’s no way we can move him that far. If we try, it could kill him.”

“Then he dies.” Margath said bluntly. “For all sense he should be dead already. It would’ve been better if he was dead, now we have to endanger ourselves keeping a half dead man alive. I know he’s special to you people, but we’ve all had to make sacrifices. We should just put him out of his misery and move on.”

Mikasa shot towards him before anyone else could react. She shoved him to the floor, pining him on the ground with her knee on his chest, her sword unsheathed and aimed at his head.

Jean grabbed hold of Pieck as she tried to tackle Mikasa. Reiner and Annie took their stance, ready to activate their titans if things got any worse.

“Mikasa!” Armin screamed.

“We are _not_ killing him!” Mikasa growled.

“You stubborn girl.” Margath barked. “What can we do with him! He’s broken! He’s of no use to us! He’ll just slow us down!”

“He’ll heal.” Mikasa retaliated. “If we give him the night. He’ll get strong again.”

“Don’t be stupid. Look at him! He’s half dead already. His heart wasn’t even beating a minute ago. His back might be broken. It’ll take him months to even stand up. Years to regain his full strength. I’m a soldier. I’ve seen injuries like this before. Trust me. Your friend is better off dead!”

“You don’t know him!” Mikasa was shouting now.

“I know that he’s an Akerman, if that’s what you’re getting at. I know that you’re one too, but don’t you _dare_ get emotional just because you’re family. The Akerman aren’t immortal. They can’t cheat death.”

“He just came back from the dead. Within seconds he was fully conscious and speaking. Within minutes the bleeding stopped. You have no idea what’s he’s capable of!” She brought her sword closer to his eyes. “Or me.”

“Margath.” Annie spoke up, her stance now relaxed. “She’s right. Even at half his strength, he’s still immensely powerful and an invaluable ally. It would be a waist to kill him.”

Margath narrowed his eyes at Mikasa, his jaw clenched.

“It’s true.” Pieck said, releasing Jean’s hold on her. “I saw what he did to Zeke back in Shiganshina. He cut him up within seconds. If I wasn’t there Zeke would be dead four years. Even when exhausted and weak, I still didn’t think we would make it out of there alive. We need him.”

Margath glared at Mikasa, thinking. He let out a deep sigh. “Fine. Akerman lives. We’ll camp here tonight. If he’s not fighting with us tomorrow, I’ll kill him myself.”

Armin stepped forward. “Wait, that’s not fair-”

“It’s fine.” Mikasa said. She stepped off of Margath, sheathing her sword.

“Right.” Margath huffed. “You guys get Akerman into cover. The rest of you, with me. Let’s go get that fire going.” He gave a disdainful look at Levi before leaving with the Marleyans.

During this time, Hange hadn’t moved from Levi’s side. She hadn’t even really been listening. She stroked Levi’s damp hair, wiping away the blood that had formed on his face. Mikasa knelt down beside her.

“Thank you.” Hange said, distantly.

Mikasa looked down at Levi’s broken form. She and Levi hadn’t always been close, but over the four years he had been teaching her a skill or two. She’d learnt that his cold and hard outward appearance wasn’t all that he was. She had actually seen him be incredibly kind and he deeply cared about all of them more than he would show. And of course, she could never repay him for choosing to save Armin. She knew that Erwin was a much closer friend to Levi than Armin was. He had given a reason for his choice, but Mikasa doubted that was all there was to it. She also reckoned that he was in more pain than he would let anyone, or even himself, know. After Shiganshina, he seemed so much more empty. She couldn’t imagine how much pain he had to suffer through every day. It would probably make the pain he was in now seem like nothing.

And then, there was Hange. Those two had always had a special relationship, but after Shiganshina, they became even closer. Mikasa almost always saw them together. The only times Levi ever spoke was to her, when he wasn’t giving orders or lessons. She supposed that was what happens when all your other friends were dead. Then there was what Hange said when she thought Levi had died. _You can’t leave me here alone._ They only had each other. Mikasa couldn’t take that away from them.

“We need to move him.” Mikasa said softly.

Hange nodded weakly. Mikasa looked round at Connie, Armin and Jean.

“We could use some of the wood from the wagons to form some kind of stretcher.” Suggested Armin.

“Good idea. Come on Mikasa, we could use you.” Said Jean already walking to the wagons with Connie and Armin.

Mikasa squeezed Hange’s hand, then stood up and followed the others. Hange was left alone with Levi’s dying body.


	2. Magath

Magath violently hacked some branches off a tree. He was in a bad mood and needed to let off some steam. _Idiots!_ He was surrounded by idiots. Idiots and demons, that’s what it was. How could he let his life come to this. If everything went to _their_ plan, they would all be dead in a few hours. That was Eldians for you.

He dragged the firewood and threw it onto the small pile that they’d made. Reiner was busy trying to get it to light. The two brats were there as well, huddled into their knees, staring at the pile of wood. Magath let out a sigh. Those poor fools. They should have never got themselves involved in this.

 _Idiot!_ A pang of guilt stabbed him in his gut. _It’s your fault that they’re involved in this!_

He shook his head, dispelling the hateful thoughts. They were devils, every single one of them. It didn’t matter that they were children. They got what they deserved.

Another stab of guilt.

 _God, I need a drink_. He stuffed his hand into a bag they had in their wagons and drew out a bottle of the devil’s finest. He sighed, and unscrewed the top. He gulped and felt the cold liquid burn it’s way down his throat.

There was a warmth and crackle behind him, Reiner had got the fire going. Magath winced as he sat down, taking another sip.

His gaze trailed back to the river. Those idiots were breaking apart the ruined wagons, finding a slab of wood for Akerman’s body. _Idiots!_ They must have known there was no hope for him. They _must_ have known it. Their sentimental bullshit was going to get them all killed. He didn’t care how strong Akerman was, Magath valued his own life, and the lives of his comrades more. He glowered at the scene. Since when did he bow down to devils. Back then, he had let the devils boss him about. Giving _him_ orders. Not just the island devils, but the Marleyan devils too. Pieck and Annie. Who did they think they were!

 _But wait_. Wasn’t it him that listened to them? Why did he let himself be talked down like that.

He chuckled at himself. His own idiocy. They outnumbered him. That psycho Akerman girl would have killed him. But at the time, he didn’t think about that. He _listened_ to them. He _trusted_ them. When Pieck had spoken, he believed her. He took her words as if they were said by a true Marleyan. It couldn’t be that he was starting to _care_ , was it?

He took another drink.

He turned his gaze to Pieck. She was sitting beside the children, talking to them softly. They seemed to cheer up a little at her words. Magath wondered what she could have been saying to them.

 _Ah, fuck it all…_ Now wasn’t the time to be having a crisis of faith. In a few days there would be no Marleyans left, and the Eldians would have killed each other. Humanity was truly hopeless.

He sighed, as he took another drink, staring into the heart of the fire.


	3. Levi

Levi's eyes opened to darkness. It was night. Near to him was a soft glow of probably a dying fire. He tried to turn his head and instantly regretted it.A stab of pain crawled down his neck and up his spine. He paused and waited for the pain to die down before moving again. This time he tried to sit up, but that brought even more pain stabbing him in his back. He left out a stifled grunt.

“Don’t try to move.” There was suddenly a voice beside him. “You’ve hurt your back.”

Hurt his back? He tried to remember. Zeke. The thunder spear. The explosion. The fucker had blown him up. He suddenly panicked. _Where am I? Where is Zeke? Did he get away? How had I survived? Who is this girl? Is she an enemy?_

“Where…” Levi rasped. It sounded like he had gargled glass. It maybe he had, it hurt well enough. But his voice sounded muffled, like he was speaking through a mask. _The fuck?_

“It’s okay. Hange and the others are here. We have an alliance.”

 _Hange._ He remembered. _Hange found me._ The explosion. _She pulled me back_. Drowning. _She saved me._ Dying.

Hearing that Hange was here calmed him somewhat. He weakly turned his head and squinted at the girl beside him. She had unkept dark wavy hair, keen eyes, and a long nose. It looked like she hadn’t slept in years.

“You’re the… cart titan… right?”

She winced. “My name’s Pieck, but yeah.”

Levi sighed as he slumped back down. _Pieck._ The cart titan. The bitch who saved Zeke and Reiner’s lives and doomed Erwin’s. He brushed it off. There was no time for grudges right now. She said they had an alliance, so she was fine for now.

Levi still felt like he had been crushed by a mountain. He tried moving his fingers. _Left hand: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5._ His fingers twitched. All good. _Right hand: 1, 2, 3, - What?_ He couldn’t move two of his fingers. They felt numb. Completely numb. As if they weren’t even there.

He shakily raised his right arm. It was bandaged from his fingers up to his elbow. The fabric stained a dark, browny red. At his hand, he had remaining; two fingers, one thumb. His index and middle fingers were missing.

“Fuck…” He breathed, a bit more to himself than to anyone else. _How am I supposed to flip people off now?_ Although, more importantly, he wandered how on earth he was going to be able to hold a sword to cut the fucking monkey’s smirking head off.

He let his hand drop. He wandered what other mutilations he had managed to give himself. He raised his left hand to his face, when he felt the bandage. It covered his entire face, bar his left eye. _The fuck have I done now?_

“What happened?” He rasped.

“We found you in the river.” Pieck said. “You had pretty much drowned, but you recovered. Although you do have severe injuries. Namely, the break to your back and the loss of your fingers. You also have your fair share of cuts and bruises, as well as a rather major gash to you face. It’s unclear whether your right eye still works.”

Levi swallowed. That was a whole host of problems that he didn’t have time for. He needed to get back up and look for Zeke. How was he supposed to kill the fucker with a fucking broken back.

“The beast… that piece of shit… where is he?” He growled.

“We last saw him at Shiganshina. With Eren. Right were he wasn’t supposed to be.” She looked down at him. “What happened. How could you let him get away?”

Levi glowered at the sky and didn’t answer her. _Zeke got to Eren._ Pieck was right, how could he let him get away again? How could he have failed. Again. He’d let Erwin down. Again. Even when dead, he was still owing Erwin something and he couldn’t even give it to him.

Pieck sighed. “In any case, you won’t be much use in a fight for a while. Magath wanted to leave you behind, but that Akerman girl threw a fit.”

“Mikasa?”

Somehow the thought of Mikasa loosing it to defend him was amusing to Levi, it also brought on a weird sense of pride in the girl. She was loyal to a fault to those she considered family. Levi never really considered that she’d eventually include his grouchy self as part of that small list. A strange feeling of warmth passed over him.

“That brat never did know… how to control her emotions.” Levi thought back to the rooftop, when she had attacked him to defend Armin.

“Well she very much saved your life. Even I was having trouble seeing how you could be more of an asset to us than a hinderance. Which reminds me, Magath insisted that if you’re not at fighting strength by the morning then we’re leaving you behind.”

Levi narrowed his eyes at her. “Somehow… I doubt I’d be able to live up to that.”

She gave out a hum in agreement. “I highly doubt Mikasa or anyone else on your team would let that happen. They’re your friends after all. As for us from Marley, well I’ll be on your side; I remember how you tore apart Zeke four years ago, I’m not giving up a monstrous power like yours so easily. As for the others, I don’t believe Annie wants to get rid of you yet either and I don’t think Reiner can be bothered to stand up to us.”

“Glad to hear… I won’t be left dying in the dirt…” Levi grumbled. _But I’d have to agree with Magath._ He thought. _I can’t even sit up, let alone stand and fight._

But he kept these thoughts to himself, as he rested his head back down on the ground. Sensing the end of the conversation, Pieck went back to staring into the fire, as Levi drifted in and out of restless sleep.


	4. Annie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this while I was meant to be writing a essay, but I decided that this was so much more fun ;)

By the time dawn arrived, Annie had been awake for hours. She had spent the majority of the night in a fitful and uncomfortable haze of exhaustion, only to give up on sleeping a few hours before dawn. She lay there on her back staring at the fading stars wondering if her body refused to sleep because it was unconscious for four years or that she was too afraid of dreaming. That must be it. After returning from her coma-like state, she couldn’t seem to get those memories from out of her head.

_…fighting her friends…_

_…watching them die…_

_…killing her comrades…_

At least she thought they were memories. It was getting harder and harder to tell what was real and what was simply her fears.

_…I promise Papa…_

She knew that was real. At least she hoped. _Gah!_ Why was it so difficult to remember!

Partway through the night she thought she heard Pieck talking to someone. She was on watch after all. It was quiet, but Annie thought she could hear the weak and raspy but very recognisable dead voice of Levi Akerman.

Annie squeezed her eyes shut. That man just didn’t know how to die, did he. It’s like he refused to. It was frustrating! Why does he, of all people, have some innate ability to remain alive against all odds. He even rivalled Reiner with his immortality.

Not that she wished the man dead. She supposed she didn’t wish anyone dead at this point. Well, maybe Eren and Zeke could go kick the bucket, but not anyone like Levi or Hange or… or Armin… or well, anyone else. It was more like, she wished she had that same confidence, that same security and she’d be okay. That her dad would be okay. Why couldn’t she convince herself that they would survive this? Why couldn’t she believe that she would keep her promise to return to him? Why wasn’t she sure?

It was getting to the early hours of dawn when these thoughts were still buzzing around her head like a swarm of maddening locusts. The stars were completely faded now, with the sky turning a pleasant shade of powdery blue, with pink and yellow shadows caught in puffy white the clouds. No one else was awake yet and Pieck must have fallen asleep.There was the soft lilting sound of the wind breathing through the trees and the gentle rush of the distant river.

With all the horror that was happening around them, it seemed almost insulting that a moment so peaceful and still could even exist. Annie breathed in time with the wind and allowed herself to imagine she was back home with her dad. That he had taken them far away from the internment zones to a meadow where they were free to lie still and stare at the sky all night until morning.

For a moment, a small smile spread its way across her lips and her turbulent questions quietened somewhat. This dawn was all she needed. All she needed to keep moving forward. She was going to keep her promises.

Her moment of peace was shattered, however, by the usual insane shrieking of Hange Zoe.

“Ahh, good morning Allies!” Came her overexcited high pitched squeal. “I predict another lovely day of trust and unity and kicking some Jeagerist ass!”

Annie rolled her head to the side to glare at the Survey Corps Commander. She was wide awake and quickly packing away materials, whilst simultaneously kicking whoever’s poor sleeping form she came by.

“Ouch! Commander!” That was Connie, the whiny brat.

“Up you lot, busy day ahead of us!”

Ouch, okay that hurt. For some reason’s Hange’s shear excitement was giving Annie a headache. “Fuck, Hange could you keep it down?” She said, raising to a sitting position, clutching her head.

“Nope!” Hange practically fired a bright wide smile towards Annie’s glaring scowl. “Today’s a day of action and I intend to make the most of it.”

Annie sighed. Fine. Whatever. The insane Commander could do what she wants, as long as it gets her home.

Looking around, she saw Pieck gently awakening the sleeping kids. Gabi and Falco. The new warriors. It left a bitter taste in her mouth, thinking about this endless cycle of titans was simply going to continue, just like that, another group of kid’s lives completely destroyed.

“You okay?”

Annie was surprised to see tall shadowy presence of Mikasa Akerman standing beside her. Annie turned her head to look up at her, fully prepared to tell her to mind her own fucking business, when she noticed Mikasa’s outreached hand.

Annie frowned at it, confused. _Since when did Mikasa offer me her hand?_

Mikasa’s eyes followed Annie’s expression and hesitantly lowered her hand, although she did still stand there awkwardly.

“Oh, um, no I’m okay.” Annie said hastily as she struggled to her feat, not meaning to offend the other girl. “I was just thinking.”

Mikasa nodded a bit distantly, looking down at her feat. “I just… you know… I wanted to thank you.” She said so softly, Annie almost missed it.

“What?” Annie asked, genially confused.

“For last night… with Levi.” She clarified, lifting her eyes to reach Annie’s. “I don’t think Magath would have listened if you hadn’t stepped in.”

“Oh…”

So that’s what this is about. All things considered, Annie hadn’t been thinking about saving the Captain’s life. It was more like she wanted to avoid an all out massacre between this already shaky alliance. But, the look in Mikasa’s eyes was so genuine, maybe Annie did want to keep the runt alive a while longer.

“It’s nothing, really.” She said. “I just wanted to end the fight.”

“In any case.” Mikasa held her gaze. “Thank you.”

Annie was stunned. She didn’t really know what to say. Neither girl was particularly good with words, but there was Mikasa, the silent moody girl always hanging behind other people during training, thanking the unapproachable and mean-faced Annie.

For some weird reason, the absurdity of the situation caused a bubble of laughter to escape from Annie’s lips as her face broke out into a smile. Mikasa’s genuine expression morphed into one of confusion and a little bit of fear, taking a step back from the shorter girl. But Annie reached out and grabbed the hand Mikasa had offered to her earlier.

She looked into her eyes and squeezed her hand gently. “You’re welcome, Mikasa.” She said truthfully, before she let go of her hand to start packing away the camp.


End file.
